Bleeding Love
by Silver Artic Wolf
Summary: After Lettuce and Ryou went their separate ways, Lettuce moved to Scotland to study marine biology in the lochs. Ryou stayed behind and tried to move on with his life, eventually they both started seeing new people, but one day Lettuce goes back to Tokyo.


Oh, wow. This story is a million years late. I started my songfic series a couple years ago I think, and I'm just now getting around to finishing it. As always this IS Lettuce and Ryou, but it starts out weird. I'll explain in the summary. Enjoy!

-Silver

Summary: After Lettuce and Ryou went their separate ways, Lettuce moved to Scotland to study marine biology in the lochs. Ryou stayed behind and tried to move on with his life, eventually they both started seeing new people, but one day Lettuce is sitting, finishing her dissertation, and hears a song on her radio. It's the one she sang to Ryou that day, many years ago, on their first date. She is taken back and finds the reason she feels so empty. What will happen when Lettuce goes back to the café and finds Ryou has moved on? Will it matter? Read to find out.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew. If I did I wouldn't be wasting my time writing fanfiction. I'd make it real.

Our story begins five years ago, in a time when everything was simpler. It was two years after the mew project and the girls had lost their powers long ago. Ryou and Lettuce had been going out for a year or so, she was 13; he was 17. A few days before their one year anniversary Lettuce called Ryou to the park, she broke it off with him, leaving him speechless. A few days later, Lettuce came into the café and told everyone she had been offered an internship with a famous marine biologist in Scotland and was leaving the next day. The girls were sad but understood the important opportunity this was for Lettuce and wished her good luck. Lettuce hugged each of the girls in turn and told them she would miss them. She left the next day. The morning of her departure, Ryou found a note tacked to the front door of the café. He took it down and read the neat scrawling handwriting.

_Dear Ryou,_

_I know I hurt you, and you can probably never forgive me, but just know, it had nothing to do with you. I need to grow up some. I think that you love me deeply; to an extent I cannot return until I have matured more. Please understand that and do not be sad. I want you to move on with your life, as I will in the months to come. Know that I do love you, but this is for both of us. It will be better this way._

_Yours always,_

_Lettuce_

Ryou read the letter and kept it all those years, those long five years that followed, and that is where our story starts in that small pink café with its' long haired chef, beautiful young waitresses, and one slightly bitter owner. "Ichigo, can you take this to table 30?" Keiichiro asked the young woman.

A bright-eyed, red head nodded and flashed a heart-warming smile, "Of course, Akasaka-san!" She took the tray from the chef and almost floated over to the correct table.

A tall blonde surveyed the scene. The four waitresses in the café were kept quite busy. Ichigo and Minto were now 18 and had matured greatly. Ichigo had grown her red hair out to the small of her back; she had grown a few inches, and had soft curves. Minto had stopped wearing her hair in buns three years ago and now wore it in a long ponytail that reached her shoulders, she even worked. Pudding was now 15, and wore her hair in a messy twist on the nape of her neck. Zakuro was 21 and the same as she was five years ago, but much more patient and kind. The mews had softened her. Ryou sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He retreated back into his room and pulled out a small piece of paper. He read it again and thought of the green haired mew that had given it to him.

In a dark room, is where our story picks back up. The room is dark except for a single desk lamp shining brightly. The desk seems to be ready to flood over with books, all kinds of books on the same subject of marine biology are scattered over it, on the floor, and on the couch in the corner. In a chair, there is a woman reading quickly, scanning for some final fact to finish her dissertation while the radio plays on. Her blue eyes shine brightly with anticipation, green hair falling gently out of its' ponytail. As she finds the fact she was searching for her face lights up and she finishes the long paper. She sits up and stretches, smiling happily. She stands and starts to head to turn the radio off, but the song catches her attention.

_I am unwritten,  
Can't read my mind  
I'm undefined  
I'm just beginning  
The pen's in my hand  
Ending unplanned_

Staring at the blank page before you  
Open up the dirty window  
Let the sun illuminate the words  
That you could not find  
Reaching for something in the distance  
So close you can almost taste it  
Release your inhibitions

Lettuce gasped and memories of her ex-boyfriend Ryou come flooding into her mind.

_Feel the rain on your skin  
No one else can feel it for you  
Only you can let it in  
No one else, no one else  
Can speak the words on your lips  
Drench yourself in words unspoken  
Live your life with arms wide open  
Today is where your book begins  
The rest is still unwritten, yeah_

Oh, oh

I break tradition  
Sometimes my tries  
Are outside the lines, oh yeah yeah  
We've been conditioned  
To not make mistakes  
But I can't live that way oh, oh

Staring at the blank page before you  
Open up the dirty window  
Let the sun illuminate the words  
That you could not find  
Reaching for something in the distance  
So close you can almost taste it  
Release your inhibitions

Lettuce makes a snap decision and pulled out her large suitcase. She puts all of her clothes into it, all her books, everything. She tacks a note to her door for her mentor to find in the morning and leaves. The radio is still on, fading into the distance…

_Feel the rain on your skin  
No one else can feel it for you  
Only you can let it in  
No one else, no one else  
Can speak the words on your lips  
drench yourself in words unspoken  
Live your life with arms wide open  
Today is where your book begins  
the rest still unwritten_

(Gospel)  
Staring at the blank page before you  
Open up the dirty window  
Let the sun illuminate the words  
That you could not find  
Reaching for something in the distance  
So close you can almost taste it  
Release your inhibitions

Feel the rain on your skin  
No one else can feel it for you  
Only you can let it in  
No one else, no one else  
Can speak the words on your lips  
Drench yourself in words unspoken  
Live you life with arms wide open  
Today is where your book begins

The rest is still unwritten

The rest is still unwritten

The café closes up for the night and Ryou is walking home with Ichigo when Ichigo stops and turns to him. "Ryou?"

"Hm?" He replies and turns to her.

"Do you ever think of Lettuce, you know, in the most random times. You'll be doing something and she'll pop into your head?" Ichigo asked and took his hand in hers.

"Yes, I do. All the time. I've learned to deal with it though," Ryou said and turned his eyes away from his girlfriend.

"I understand. Today, Pudding broke a plate and started apologizing, and she and I both had to stop and hug each other because it reminded us of Lettuce. I miss her," Ichigo said and a tear slid down her cheek.

"I do too," Ryou said and opened the door to Ichigo's apartment, "goodnight, Ichigo-chan."

"Goodnight, Ryou-kun," Ichigo replied and closed the door behind her.

Ryou walked home and went to bed.

The next morning Ryou awoke to the sound of knocking on the café door. He got up and groggily called out, "I'm coming, hold on."

Lettuce stood on the front stoop with her ipod in her pocket. She had set it on shuffle and when Ryou opened the door a new song came on.

_Closed off from love  
I didn't need the pain  
Once or twice was enough  
And it was all in vain  
Time starts to pass  
Before you know it you're frozen_

Ooooh...

But something happened  
For the very first time with you  
My heart melted into the ground  
Found something true  
And everyone's looking 'round  
Thinking I'm going crazy

"Lettuce?" Ryou breathed.

"Hey," Lettuce said and gave him a little smile.

_But I don't care what they say_  
_I'm in love with you  
They try to pull me away  
But they don't know the truth  
My heart's crippled by the vein  
That I keep on closing  
You cut me open and I_

Keep bleeding  
Keep, keep bleeding love  
I keep bleeding  
I keep, keep bleeding love  
Keep bleeding  
Keep, keep bleeding love  
You cut me open

"What are you doing here?" He asked as she walked in with her suitcase.

"I think I left some things unspoken, and the other day I heard a song…and I remembered. I had to come back," Lettuce replied and turned back around to face him, blue eyes bore into blue eyes.

_Oooh, oooh..._

Trying hard not to hear  
But they talk so loud  
Their piercing sounds fill my ears  
Try to fill me with doubt  
Yet I know that their goal  
Is to keep me from falling

Hey, yeah!

But nothing's greater  
Than the rush that comes with your embrace  
And in this world of loneliness  
I see your face  
Yet everyone around me  
Thinks that I'm going crazy  
Maybe, maybe

"Like what? You made it perfectly clear the night you broke up with me, and the next day," Ryou said, sounding a little cold.

"I know…but I do think I left some things unsaid, like how much I love you, and how much it hurt to leave," Lettuce replied, stepping closer to Ryou.

_But I don't care what they say  
I'm in love with you  
They try to pull me away  
But they don't know the truth  
My heart's crippled by the vein  
That I keep on closing  
You cut me open and I_

Keep bleeding  
Keep, keep bleeding love  
I keep bleeding  
I keep, keep bleeding love  
Keep bleeding  
Keep, keep bleeding love  
You cut me open

"Hurt you? What about the pain you caused me?" Ryou said angrily.

"I know. I'm so sorry, you cannot understand how badly I feel. Please, see that I'm telling you the truth!" Lettuce cried out.

_And it's draining all of me  
Oh they find it hard to believe  
I'll be wearing these scars  
For everyone to see_

I don't care what they say  
I'm in love with you  
They try to pull me away  
But they don't know the truth  
My heart's crippled by the pain  
That I keep all closed in  
You cut me open and I

Keep bleeding  
Keep, keep bleeding love  
I keep bleeding  
I keep, keep bleeding love  
Keep bleeding  
Keep, keep bleeding love

"I do, but Lettuce, I've moved on," Ryou said and turned away.

"I didn't expect you to wait for me, but now I'm telling you that I fulfilled what I said I needed. I've grown up, I love you with my soul," Lettuce replied and put a tentative hand on his shoulder.

_You cut me open and I_

Keep bleeding  
Keep, keep bleeding love  
I keep bleeding  
I keep, keep bleeding love  
Keep bleeding  
Keep, keep bleeding love  
You cut me open and I  
Keep bleeding  
Keep, keep bleeding love

"Ryou, please," Lettuce pleaded.

Ryou turned around and pulled her gently to him, "I've missed you. Don't ever do that to me again."

"Never."

Okay, I don't know if that's too much of a cliffy or something, but I thought it was a good ending. There is an implied break-up with Ichigo in the earlier part of the story. Also, I do not own Natasha Bedingfield's "Unwritten" or Leona Lewis' "Bleeding Love". Review!

-Silver


End file.
